Today, Racing plays against Godoy Cruz and Atlanta plays Defensores de Belgrano. The former is relatively uninteresting, the latter quite the contrary.

In the past, Defe vs Atlanta was a big occasion for us due to the dislike that both clubs fans have of each other. The last few years, there being no away fans allowed at lower division futbol games in Argentina, this has become somewhat less exciting. For this reason, well concentrate on anecdotes and moments of the past of more interest.

A not unusual scene at Atlanta vs Defensores. In Villa Crespo a few years ago…

I have a somewhat love/hate relationship to Defensores de Belgrano. There was a time (late 90s I think) when I was exiled from Atlanta. To make a long story short: One day during an away game, I was standing around behind the goal. Being the young anarchist that I was, I had some t-shirt with some politically explicit slogan which gave away my political „inclinations.“ Suddenly, from behind I hear „vos que haces aca? Zurdo de mierda!“ (roughly translated „what are you doing here? Fucking Leftist! And „zurdo“ is an especially derogative term used by fascists/cops/soldiers to refer to leftists) I turned around just fast enough to move out of the way of a fist about the size of my head headed towards me, belonging to a body about three heads larger than mine. The giant then proceeded to try to rip off my tshirt (failed), but I was eventually pushed out of the area behind the goal in a very (very) unfriendly manner.
I then began the process of organizing my friends, contacts, and generally sympathetic people in order to make possible my return to my clubs terraces. However, this proved to be a somewhat long and complicated process, as apparently the person who attacked me was an ex-member of the „Camargo Skinheads“ which were a Neo-Nazi skinhead group which had apparently been active a few years earlier in Atlanta. Although they were no longer active and werent even recognizable, they still had enough connections to be a problem.

This is all of course especially crazy given that Atlanta is the representative team of Villa Crespo, one of Buenos Airess historically (and still currently) most Jewish neighborhoods. Our stadium is called „Leon Kolbowsky“ and the derogatory term other teams fans use to refer to Atlanta and its fans is „los judios“ (the Jews). Antisemitic chants against us (and even the ocassional swastica flag) are not rare.

Regardless, it took several months before I could return to Atlanta, and an alternative entertainment for Saturday afternoons was needed. Since I had lots of friends at Defensores de Belgrano, for a time went to see Defe and travelled with them (and their barra/hooligans) on several occasions. And so, regardless of where my heart truly lied…when you get ambushed in a Buenos Aires slum because the cops steer your buses into the middle, then suddenly disappear, and the next step is you being shot at from several directions….you develop certain bonds with people through shared suffering!

On the other hand, a sector of Defes fans also slipped into antisemitic folklore and jokes which made me, while standing around there, very uncomfortable and feeling not quite safe. The high (low?) point of this was an Atlanta vs Defe in Defes stadium in the early 1999 or 2000, where Defe fans greeted the entrance of Atlantas players on the pitch by throwing bars of soap. This act was even more repulsive because the „terrace“ from which this happened is named after a Jewish leftist, and Defe fan, by the name of Marcos Zucker who was killed during the last military dictatorship (one of the most famous torture camps of the dictatorship era is located directly across the street from Defes stadium). Fortunately, I was with the Atlanta fans that day.

This phase seems to be over in Defe, as those who understand Spanish can see in the following video, where there is very positive referance to Marcos Zucker, anti-military songs being chanted, and so forth.

This video shows Defes fans in the neighborhood of their archrivals Excursionistas…who are nowhere to be found.

Finally, a video of a tragic incident in Argentine futbol and a great example of the behavior of Argentine police. What is seen here is not rare, what is rare is that it was caught on tape, and that the police went so far as to kill an already arrested fan and then claim that he died „falling from the back of the van“ in which he was being transported.